I don't know what the horse is planning...

But it has the elephant very worried.

Better to ride elsewhere, I think.

Thanksgiving Prayer

Let us give thanks to God our Father for all his gifts so
freely bestowed upon us.

For the beauty and wonder of your creation, in earth and
sky and sea.

We thank you, Lord.

For all that is gracious in the lives of men and women,
revealing the image of Christ,

We thank you, Lord.

For our daily food and drink, our homes and families, and
our friends,

We thank you, Lord.

For minds to think, and hearts to love, and hands to serve,

We thank you, Lord.

For health and strength to work, and leisure to rest and play,

We thank you, Lord.

For the brave and courageous, who are patient in suffering
and faithful in adversity,

We thank you, Lord.

For all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice,

We thank you, Lord.

For the communion of saints, in all times and places,

We thank you, Lord.

Above all, we give you thanks for the great mercies and
promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord;

To him be praise and glory, with you, O Father, and the
Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

from The Book of Common Prayer

Merry Christmas?

Just what is the toy store trying to say here?

Book Alert: The Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia McKillip and Pegasus by Robin McKinley

I keep meaning to tell everyone: The Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia McKillip and Pegasus by Robin McKinley are both out!!

No, I haven't read them yet, but there has been much dancing and secret rejoicing and there shall be much reading and, given the authors, rereading.

I am also glad that they're keeping the same cover artist and style for the McKillip books. I just wish they'd stuck to their old hardcover size; I really liked it--it was perfect for holding in the hands.  Still, this is a minor gripe, and does nothing to diminish the dancing.

An added note: if you don't happen to want to buy it just now, go to the library. If your library doesn't have it, talk to the librarian. Librarians are generally very nice about ordering things requested. It's one of their many virtues.

Favorite Opening Lines from Stories

"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

"Mrs. Whitaker found the Holy Grail; it was under a fur coat."

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

"Once up on a time..."

Bolsa Chica Birds and Beasts

I've tentatively tagged this as a Black-Necked Grebe in non-breeding plumage. The size and coloration seem right. They were busy diving down and chasing fish. You can see the drops beading up on the back of this bird.

I still don't know why grebes have red eyes.

A ring-beaked gull watches me watch it.

I love seagulls; they're so contradictory. On land, they're sort of ordinary looking, squabbling birds. Once they're in the air, they are graceful fliers, some of the most beautiful around, and the sunlight catches their wings.

I'm not really clear on the precise differences between a Clark's Grebe and a Western Grebe. This is one or the other.

Edit: A friend tells me "In Clark's Grebes, the black on the head doesn't hit the eyes. In Western Grebes, it goes to the eyes," so this one is probably a Western Grebe, since the black does hit the eyes.

A cottontail thinks about waking up. She sat there for quite a while considering the matter before an egret flew down nearby and started her into diving for the bushes.

Snowy Egret at Bolsa Chica

It was dawn, so the birds were just waking up and, I suppose, that is why the egret was so calmly sitting on the rail. After half-dozing for a while, it flew down and started to fish. Snowy egrets have yellow toes that they use as lures, swishing dabbling them in the water in hopes the fish will see the yellow flickers and think "food!" Evidently, it works. I took a short clip of it starting work, dabbling for a bit and then moving on in search of better prospects.

These Are the Creatures in My Neighborhood: Bolsa Chica Birds

I added a belted kingfisher to my list of birds. There was quite a glare, so I didn't get as good a look at it as I'd have liked.

I saw her when on the Bolsa Chica Conservancy's monthly guided tour which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. We took the full two hours and covered quite a bit of the reserve. One caveat: People with strollers had difficulty and turned back a the stairs, and it was hard on those with toddlers as well.

These are the Creatures in My Neighborhood: Bolsa Chica Birds and Beasts

I recently decided to learn more about the creatures in my neighborhood, including, finally, their names, so I'm slowly working on learning names and faces for the more common animals and plants in my area.

I spent part of today online, looking at pictures of Bolsa Chica birds and beasts, working on identifying birds from pictures I took on the 10th. OC Birder Girl's Blog and the Bolsa Chica Land Trust's Site were especially helpful.

Black-necked Grebe aka  Podiceps nigricollis

I'm think this one is a Western Grebe. I'm sure it is a grebe, and I was feeling very happy about having figured that out until I looked and realized that there was more than one kind of grebe, and at least three visit Bolsa Chica regularly. All the grebes have eerie red eyes. I wonder, why red? Very few creatures that I know of have red eyes.  Edit: Looking at sizes & such, I'm thinking it's more likely a black-necked grebe in non-breeding plumage.

American Brown Pelican aka Pelecanus occedentalis

This one is a mature Brown Pelican. I was surprised to find out today that they get less brown as they get older.

I love watching the pelicans. They seem like they shouldn't work, that big beak and that ungainly walk, but they are amazingly beautiful in flight. Seen from below, they look fierce, like pterodactyls. Once they are swimming, it's possible to admire the variegated shades of brown.

House Finch aka Carpodacus mexicanus

There's no need to go to Bolsa Chica to see these! They're all over. They spent this spring and summer hopping around inside our tomato plant jungle, no doubt stuffing themselves full of insects and tomato worms.

Bufflehead aka Bucephala albeola

It makes me happy to know that there is such a thing as a bufflehead out there somewhere in the world. Isn't that a wonderful name?

Reddish Egret aka Egretta rufescens

A Reddish Egret. I have to find out, sometime, what the difference between an egret and a heron is.

Ruddy Duck aka Oxyura jamaicensis

 Belding's Savannah Sparrow aka Passerculus sandwichensis

It's incongruous to see sparrows hopping around on the stones right next to the salt water.

Turkey Vulture aka Cathartes aura

It's hard to believe these are vultures. I think of vultures as being ugly, but these are not. They're surprisingly big birds when they swoop down low over the path.

American Coot aka Fulica americana

The American Coot with its funny white bill.

Snowy Egrets aka Egretta thula

I don't know why these egrets rest together. They don't seem to preen, chatter, or pay any attention at all, but they do gather, even when they don't need to, so they must be getting something out of it.

An American Bittern aka Botaurus lentiginosus

I think this is an American Bittern, in which case, I was quite lucky and didn't even realize it. From what I read, they do get confused with immature night-crowned herons and immature green herons, but it doesn't seem hunched up enough to be either, nor do the stripes match what I saw on the immature pictures. The stripe pattern is right for the bittern, and so is the aloof "I'm not seeing you (and you're not seeing me") pose, and the little crook in the neck.

 Anyone want to help me out with verifications or corrections?

American Fence Lizard

"One of these things is not like the others"

Running on Water

Sometimes I am amazed at the things that don't amaze me. Take my most recent visit to Bolsa Chica.

I was wandering along, watching the birds, looking at the plants, and admiring the view.  I stopped for a while to watch the water. Ripples, little snails, and bugs running on the water. Moving on.

No, wait. There are bugs running on the water. Bugs. Running on the water.  Little, tiny, mosquito-sized beings, running on the top of the water, moving against the tide.

How do they do that? I mean, yes, I have watched nature shows and recall, sort of, explanations about surface tension and the hairs on the feet being spread out and so on, but that's somewhere else, somewhere tropical, on still, green waters. These are here, in this city, only a few miles away from me.

They're small, too (probably so are the ones on the nature shows, really), smaller than mosquitoes, and semi-transparent--to that extent, even these photos are misleading about size, since I zoomed in. I had to look hard to spot individual bugs, and spent a while watching to make sure that, yes, they really were running on the water.

Here, in this town, there are bugs running on the water. And I never  noticed.

Taxonomy Request

Anyone got any good explanations of taxonomy? The last time I cared about it at all, I was memorizing the names for Biology class: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. I recall, vaguely, that it has to do with how closely related things are to one another--members of a given species interbreed and so on. Now, though, I'm starting to try to learn to identify birds and bugs and things, and I find categories that King Phillip and his Soup(1) can't help me with. There are orders and infraorders, and for all I know suborders, families and superfamilies and subspecies and occasionally entries marked "No Taxon." What is going on? I've looked at the inestimable Wikipedia, but I'd like more depth and detail, please.

(1)"King Phillip Came Over For Good Soup," one of the few mnemonic devices that has actually stuck, and here it's outdated, and maybe was already outdated when I was learning it.

Rattlesnake and Squirrel

I saw the squirrel first, standing on his hind legs and waving his tail.

Then I looked down.

The rattlesnake was pouring himself across the path in a leisurely fashion.

I froze.

The rattlesnake kept on going. So did the squirrel; to my astonishment, it followed the snake across the path. It kept a respectful distance, but stayed right behind, watching to see where the snake was heading and stopping every so often to wave his tail again.

I waited until the squirrel settled down and started eating seeds before heading on my way.

Sorry about the wobbly camera. Snakes move so incredibly smoothly, I really wanted to catch that. The squirrel shows up about 50 seconds in. I saw the squirrel earlier, but took stills first.

Edit: Looking around at pictures (Most of which are, not so strangely, titled "Rattlesnake" without any sort of species name), I'm tentatively concluding that this is a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake. Anyone got any clues as to how I could find out more?

I stopped over at the Friends of Bolsa Chica office on Warner, but they couldn't tell me what sort of rattlesnake it was. They did identify the really impressive spiders (Argiope Argentata)I saw, so if arachnids interest you, check over at Spiderwatch for some pics.

The Spider by Sabrina Crewe, a book review

A full review of The Spider, a non-fiction children's book by Sabrina Crewe is up on SpiderWatch.

Short version: Don't bother.

The Broken Hourglass: These Are the People in Your Neighborhood

Thought I'd post a couple more profiles from The Broken Hourglass neighborhood.

Mind once took care of the less-legal side of things in the Industrial District. He kept the riffraff in line, made sure no one was hurt (too much), and made a tidy profit all at the same time.

Then he vanished.

Now he's back, and he wants control again. Will you help him? Right now, the entire city is in chaos. Someone who can keep things in order might be just what the city needs, even if he takes a bit off the top for his own purposes. Of course, there are other candidates for the job, but none of them, as Mind will point out, have his experience.

The Mnemoi Like their compatriots in the Enclave, the Mnemoi are skilled at manipulating memories. Unlike them, they are willing to market their skills. For a reasonable fee, they will give you the skills and memories of a mountain climber or a researcher, without you having to take the time or effort to learn these things on your own. Pretty useful in the current crisis, wouldn't you say?

Better yet, you might be able to sell some of your own memories, get the sanguil you need to buy that lovely suit of armor Nekos has been asking for.

It's quite safe.

Really.

Clasping of Hands by George Herbert

Clasping of Hands

Lord, thou art mine, and I am thine,
If mine I am: and thine much more,
Then I or ought, or can be mine.
Yet to be thine, doth me restore;
So that again I now am mine,
And with advantage mine the more,
Since this being mine, brings with it thine,
And thou with me dost thee restore.
If I without thee would be mine,
I neither should be mine nor thine.

Lord, I am thine, and thou art mine:
So mine thou art, that something more
I may presume thee mine, then thine.
For thou didst suffer to restore
Not thee, but me, and to be mine,
And with advantage mine the more,
Since thou in death wast none of thine,
Yet then as mine didst me restore.
O be mine still! still make me thine!
Or rather make no Thine and Mine!

from The Temple by George Herbert

Where the Sidewalk Ends

This always makes me think of Shel Silverstein, and that always makes me smile.

The Broken Hourglass: Proofreading Count

Just finished reading a minor quest that made me smile.

I have sixteen more quests to read on this run through.

Two are very long. Three are very short. I have no idea about the rest.

Anyway, just popping in to let you know that, yes, I'm still at it.

Off for dinner and some sunshine, then... We shall see!

One of these days, I'll do another "People in the neighborhood" post. After all, the big advantage of proofreading this way is that I know more of the neighborhood. So, anyone interested in another such post?

Bartlett Park

Rain agrees with Bartlet Park.

Ravens: A PBS Nature Show

Just to keep the crows company: Ravens.

It wasn't quite as thorough as the A Murder of Crows, but was fascinating all the same.

Also, I'm now confused again about the difference between ravens and crows. One of the things I've read is that crows love humans and human cities, but ravens don't like cities and stick with wilder territory. This showed ravens enjoying city life as well; it didn't show them in the cities as often, but they were there.

Daddy Longlegs Spiders by Jill C. Wheeler, a Book Review

A full review of Daddy Longlegs Spiders, Hobo Spiders, and Crab Spiders all by Jill C. Wheeler is up at SpiderWatch. Short version:  The books get major points for focusing on individual kinds of spiders, otherwise they are not particularly remarkable.

A Murder of Crows: Nature Show

They've got the full episode of A Murder of Crows up. It's absolutely fascinating. I remember reading in Bernd Heinrich's Mind of the Raven about how excited he was when he put food on a string and the raven figured it out and pulled it up right away. Tests have gone past that--this has a bit where the researcher puts one tool on a string and the crow has to pull that up and take it off in order to reach another tool which can then be used to reach the food.

Also, there's a lot on facial recognition and on crows teaching their young. Take a look:

A Murder of Crows ~ Full Episode | Nature

Birdhouses

 There are more new houses on birdhouse corner. There's even a nice fall one.